Total Inclusion, by Cause

Next, the meaning of total inclusion should be understood. Inclusion is of two kinds: by cause, and by fruit. As to inclusion by cause: this concerns the purity of the Tathāgata's nature. Among the four causes, three dharmas correspond to three similes, and so the ocean is taken as an analogy. The three dharmas are: the cause of the dharmakāya's purity, the cause from which the Buddha's wisdom and virtue arise, and the cause of the Buddha's grace and virtue. The cause of the dharmakāya's purity should be understood as the cultivation of faith and delight in the Mahāyāna. The cause from which the Buddha's wisdom and virtue arise should be understood as the cultivation of prajñā and meditative concentration. The cause of grace and virtue should be understood as the cultivation of bodhisattva great compassion. Cultivating faith and delight in the Mahāyāna resembles the vessel that is the ocean itself — because it is filled throughout with the immeasurable great treasures of concentration and wisdom, it is said to resemble the vessel. Cultivating prajñā and meditative concentration resembles the treasures held within: prajñā, being non-discriminating; meditative concentration, being inconceivable and the basis on which all virtue depends. Prajñā is like a pure jewel; meditative concentration is like a wish-fulfilling jewel. Cultivating bodhisattva great compassion is like pure water — smoothing and moistening all sentient beings throughout the world with a single taste, just as the great ocean has but a single, salty taste. Bodhisattva great compassion, moistening all sentient beings, is exactly the same. It is because these three dharmas, at the causal stage, together form the relation of what is supported and what supports, that this total inclusion is called the Tathāgata's ocean of Dharma. This is called inclusion by cause.

Next, as to inclusion by fruit: this shows that the Tathāgata's dharmakāya has three dharmas that resemble three similes, and are thereby able to be totally included within them. The resemblance is this: as the sun has three aspects — its own body, its light, and its brightness — these correspond to the three bodies of a buddha. The three dharmas are: supernatural power, the extinguishing of outflow, and manifest purity. As to the first, supernatural power: this is comparable to the sun's brightness, able to dispel the darkness of ignorance that obstructs its own domain, and, by way of this function, resembles the sun's brightness. As to the second, the extinguishing of outflow: this refers to the wisdom of exhaustion and of non-arising, able to burn away karmic affliction without remainder, and, by way of this function, resembles the sun's light. As for "extinguishing": this is precisely true wisdom, which is what actually removes delusion — and it is precisely when delusion is no longer present at all that this is called liberation, and so it is designated "exhaustion." As to the third, manifest purity: this refers to how the object of the wisdom of exhaustion and non-arising is called "the transformed basis" — being utterly pure, being without defilement, being clear and still — and thereby resembles the sun's own disc. "Pure" means that the obstruction to liberation has been extinguished. "Without defilement" means that the obstruction to omniscience has been extinguished. "Clear and still" means that it cannot be stained by adventitious defilement, on account of its inherent purity. "The transformed basis" means that it is the dharma on which śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas — all three kinds of persons — depend, each surpassing the last.

There are, further, four correspondences that should be understood: as the basis for arising, as the basis for cessation, as the fruit of well-ripened contemplation, and as the mark of the dharma-realm's purity. As to the first, the basis for arising: this is the continuous support of the buddhas' non-discriminating path — if one did not take this dharma as condition, the non-discriminating path could not arise at all. As to the second, the basis for cessation: this means the utter and final extinction, without further arising, of every affliction and its habitual residue. If one did not depend on this dharma of the transformed basis for the utter extinction of affliction, then the way śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas extinguish affliction would be no different from the way a buddha does — since they are, in fact, different, we know that this dharma is the basis for the utter extinction of affliction. As to the third, the fruit of well-ripened contemplation: this refers to the fully correct penetration of suchness as known through long, reverent, uninterrupted, and complete cultivation. While still on the path, the transformed basis serves as cause; once beyond the path, it is called the fruit. If the transformed basis were not the fruit of well-ripened contemplation, then the buddhas' own nature would have to be further ripened, further extinguished, and further purified — but since this is not so, we know that the transformed basis is the fruit of well-ripened contemplation. As to the fourth, the mark of the dharma-realm's purity: this is because every delusive thought is, within it, utterly extinguished. This dharma-realm is revealed as beyond contemplation and beyond speech altogether, and so purity of the dharma-realm is taken as its mark — this is precisely where the workings of mind cease and the path of language is cut off, where nothing at all can be designated, and this alone is what it means to attain the principle of suchness, a principle attained by attaining nothing at all.

Next, it should be understood that the Tathāgata's transformed basis is upheld by eight dharmas: being inconceivable, being without duality, being without discrimination, being pure, being the cause of illumination, being the antidote, being freedom from desire, and being the cause of freedom from desire. These eight, together, carry two overall senses: freedom from desire corresponds to the truth of cessation, and the cause of freedom from desire corresponds to the truth of the path. The first three belong to the truth of cessation; the next three belong to the truth of the path.

As to freedom from desire, there are three phrases. First, why is it called "inconceivable"? Because it cannot be penetrated by any of the four alternatives of existence, non-existence, and the rest, through discursive reflection; because it cannot be captured through the words, names, and phrases of any sentient being's speech; and because it can only be realized by the sages' own non-discriminating wisdom. Second, as to "without duality": as the sūtra says, "Śāriputra! The dharmakāya of all buddhas has no dual dharma, no discriminated dharma." What is meant by "duality" here is affliction and karma. The Tathāgata's dharmakāya has neither of these — hence it is called without duality. Third, "without discrimination": discrimination refers to the habitual, incorrect thinking born of affliction and karma, from which duality arises. By penetrating one's own nature, this duality is extinguished, and both this duality and this discrimination are made neither to correspond nor to operate — "not to correspond" meaning that the afflictions arising in active thought no longer co-arise with it, "not to operate" meaning that the latent, dormant afflictions no longer accompany it either. Since neither of these operates or corresponds any longer, the Tathāgata's dharmakāya's cessation of suffering is utterly final, with no further arising at all. How is this so? It is not that one dharma is eliminated that it is called "cessation" — it is because it was, from the very start, never arisen at all. As the Anūnatvāpūrṇatvanirdeśa Sūtra says: "Ānanda! Within the unborn, unceasing dharma, mind, mentation, and consciousness decisively do not arise."

Explanation: "mind" refers to the mind of the six consciousnesses; "mentation" refers to the manas-consciousness; "consciousness" refers to the ālaya-consciousness — none of these three arise within the dharmakāya. If the three consciousnesses do not exist, there is no discrimination; and once discrimination is absent, there is likewise no incorrect thinking. And since the three consciousnesses do not exist, ignorance cannot arise either — this is why the Tathāgata's dharmakāya, being free from incorrect thinking, does not give rise to ignorance. If ignorance does not arise, the twelve links of dependent origination have no condition for arising — hence it is called "unborn."

Further, the Śrīmālādevī Sūtra says: "This cessation of suffering is not the cessation of some destructible dharma. 'Destruction' refers to breaking through the view-level afflictions within the three realms, attaining nirvāṇa with residue. 'Cessation' refers to removing the four kinds of afflictions of contemplative thought pertaining to saṃsāra, attaining nirvāṇa without residue — hence it is spoken of as 'cessation' and 'destruction' together." By virtue of this cessation of suffering, it is called: without beginning or temporal marker, neither made nor arisen, without cessation and free of exhaustion, permanently abiding and eternally still, limpidly, inherently pure, liberated from the shell of every affliction, its virtues surpassing the sands of the Ganges, mutually inclusive rather than mutually separate, never departing from wisdom, inconceivable, and in accord with the Tathāgata's own dharma. This — the Tathāgata's dharmakāya, spoken of by all buddhas — is what is called freedom from desire.

As to the second, the cause of freedom from desire: this refers to what is comprehended by the path of insight and the path of cultivation, by which this dharmakāya is attained. In terms of its object, non-discriminating wisdom has three aspects that resemble the sun: because it is outflow-free and pure, it resembles the sun's own disc; because it is able to illuminate every object, it resembles the sun's brightness; because it is able to counteract every obstruction that darkens true seeing, it resembles the sun's light.

Explanation: the obstructions that darken true seeing are the fully-formed conception, the difficulty of affliction, the difficulty of karma, and the difficulty of karmic retribution. The fully-formed conception has latent affliction as its cause, the desires of the five sense-objects as its condition, and incorrect thinking as its co-arising cause. This obstruction prevents one from truly seeing and knowing the single realm of the dharmakāya free from desire — and it is precisely by removing it that one comes to see and know the Tathāgata's dharmakāya's freedom from desire. How does one see and know it? Through thinking that truly accords with reality, not seeing conception and not seeing object — "object" referring to the imagined nature, and "conception" to the dependent nature — and by not seeing these two natures, one is said to truly see and know this single realm. Furthermore, "conception" corresponds to person, and "object" to dharma; and by not seeing this person, dharma, conception, or object, this is called the twofold emptiness. It is by seeing and knowing every dharma in this way, through utter and complete equanimity, that one penetrates suchness in its very reality — object and wisdom being equally without increase or decrease. This is called the contemplation of equanimity, able to remove the obstruction that darkens true seeing, and is the cause belonging to the household of what is fully attained by the Tathāgata's dharmakāya, being comprehended by both the path of insight and the path of cultivation.

For this reason, this cause of freedom from desire is accomplished only inseparably from two forms of cultivation: cultivation in accordance with principle, and cultivation in accordance with measure. All that is known in the world is of only two kinds: person and dharma. If one is able to penetrate this twofold emptiness, one permanently attains the true limit as it really is — hence this is called "in accordance with principle." As for the limit reached "in accordance with measure": this means exhausting the source and reaching the very nature, plumbing the origin of the dharma-realm to its limit. Cultivation in accordance with principle does not destroy person or dharma — because this person and dharma are, by nature, from the very start, supremely subtle and still, without increase or decrease, apart from both existence and non-existence. This inherently pure mind is called the truth of the path; that afflictions never truly arise, and the pure mind grasps at nothing, is called the truth of cessation. This mind possesses both inherent purity and the obstruction of afflictive delusion — these two dharmas, within the outflow-free realm, operating as a wholesome mind and an unwholesome mind each entirely on their own, within a single moment of thought, the two minds never corresponding to one another — and for this reason these two dharmas are difficult to penetrate. As the Śrīmālādevī Sūtra says: "World-Honored One! The wholesome mind perishes moment by moment and does not abide, and yet no affliction can stain it; the unwholesome mind likewise perishes moment by moment, and yet no affliction stains it either. World-Honored One! Affliction does not touch the mind, and the mind does not touch affliction. How, then, without any contact at all, can the mind come to be stained?" To know this is called wisdom in accordance with principle.

Wisdom in accordance with measure means fully and exhaustively knowing every object. If one sees all sentient beings as departing from the object and the wisdom that accords with reality, this constitutes saṃsāra; if one follows and supports it, this attains nirvāṇa. From the first ground onward, bodhisattvas attain these two wisdoms, and, by penetrating the principle that pervades the whole dharma-realm, know both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa together. These two wisdoms, moreover, are the insight of self-realization: understood entirely by oneself, not received from another. They have two further aspects: non-attachment — to see the realm of sentient beings as inherently pure, the aspect of wisdom in accordance with principle — and unobstructedness — to be able to penetrate and contemplate the immeasurable, boundless realm, the aspect of wisdom in accordance with measure. And they have two further senses: wisdom in accordance with principle serves as cause, able to serve as the cause of both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa; wisdom in accordance with measure serves as fruit, knowing, on this basis, the Tathāgata's ultimate and conventional dharmas as fully accomplished. Wisdom in accordance with principle is the cause of purification, since through it the three afflictions are extinguished; wisdom in accordance with measure is the cause of fulfillment, since through it the three virtues are fulfilled. The former three — inconceivable, without duality, without discrimination — are called freedom from desire; the latter three — purity, illumination, and the antidote — are called the cause of freedom from desire. This is called the eight virtues by which the Tathāgata's transformed basis is upheld.